Arab World: A battle for two cities

Assad scaling down areas he seeks to control, but making supreme effort to hold on to Damascus, Aleppo.

Smoke is seen rising over Damascus 370 (R).
(photo credit:REUTERS)

The Syrian regime is pouring all available resources into its defense of the two
main cities of Syria: Damascus and Aleppo.

While simultaneously
constructing an Alawi enclave in the northwest, the Assads understand that
maintaining control of these central urban areas is vital to maintain their
claim to constitute the government of Syria. Lose the cities, and Bashar Assad’s
regime will come to constitute just another sectarian force in a Syrian civil
war.

As of now, the dictator’s forces appear to have largely succeeded in
their mission in Damascus. In Aleppo, the battle is still on. Those who began
last week to prepare eulogies for the Assad regime have once again spoken too
soon.

This is because while the balance of power in Syria is slowly
shifting in the rebels’ favor, the essential cause of the stalemate between the
sides remains.

The rebels are now far too numerous and powerful for the
regime to entertain hopes of re-imposing its authority throughout the entirety
of the country in the foreseeable future.

Assad simply does not have
sufficient manpower to carry out an effective campaign of counter-insurgency
throughout the country.

A considerable portion of Syria has now slipped
beyond Assad’s reach. In the northeast, Syrian Kurds have established their own
autonomous area with the help of the Kurdish regional government in northern
Iraq. This enclave is aligned with neither the regime nor the rebels.

In
the northwest, in Idlib province, the regime has abandoned earlier attempts to
maintain its presence in rural areas. An area of rebel control now stretches
from the Turkish border to just west of Aleppo.

So the regime is
following a strategy of scaling down the area it seeks to control and making a
supreme effort to ensure that in these designated areas, its authority remains
intact and not open to appeal.

This strategy is enabling Assad to hold on
because while he no longer has the manpower to hold the whole of Syria, he still
possesses sufficient equipment and men to decimate his opponents at any
(limited) chosen point in the country. The lightly armed rebels still have no
effective answer to air power, artillery and heavy armor.

This pattern
played itself out in Damascus this week. The appearance of the rebels in the
capital dramatically showcased the weakening hand of the regime. The illusion of
normality that Assad had nurtured in the capital for 16 months was
shattered.

This, combined with the successful attack on the national
security building in Damascus, was an ominous sign from the regime’s point of
view.

The regime then rallied its most reliable and brutal forces.
Republican Guard Commander Maher Assad’s 4th Armored Division began to drive the
rebels from the districts into which they had inserted themselves.

As of
now, the vital Midan and Mezzah districts are back in government hands. Sporadic
fighting is continuing in some southern suburbs of the city, including Hajar
alaswad and Qadam.

The regime is trying to repeat this pattern in Aleppo
following the liberation of districts of the city by the Free Syrian Army
earlier this week. Aleppo is the largest of Syria’s cities, with a
population of 2.5 million. Control of the city would mean the inclusion
of a major urban area in a rebel-held enclave for the first time. It would also
represent an enormous further blow to the morale of the regime
forces.

For these reasons, the regime is utterly determined to prevent
the loss of the city. In line with its strategy of retreat and consolidation,
the government has withdrawn forces from the Jebel Zawiya area of Idlib province
and rushed them to the defense of Aleppo.

Jebel Zawiya, an area with a
long tradition of resistance to centralized authority, is one of the heartlands
of the revolt. The regime’s concentration of forces toward Aleppo is in effect a
conceding of Jebel Zawiya to the rebels, at least for the moment. This is
being undertaken to save what can – and from Assad’s point of view what must –
be saved.

The regime is approaching the pacification of Aleppo with its
usual single- mindedness.

Fixed-wing aircraft have been used to strafe
rebel-held areas in the city. Helicopter gunships also kept up a steady
fire. Their use underlined the vast difference in equipment between the two
sides. Yet the regime’s preference for air power also suggests a reluctance to
commit ground forces unless absolutely necessary. Assad’s preference for the use
of stand-off fire has been notable in recent months. It may well suggest that he
can no longer rely on the loyalty and steadiness of parts of his own
army.

Still, it is unlikely that Aleppo will fall to the rebels, so the
essential contours of the stalemate are likely to continue to prevail. For as
long as they do, thousands more will continue to die in the Syrian civil war, as
the rebels slowly endeavor to hollow out and grind down Assad’s killing
machine.

To change the balance and push forward, what the rebels need is
greater international involvement – most importantly, air cover to establish
secure safe zones, training and higher caliber weaponry.

External
assistance for the rebels has made the gains of the last months possible. But
more will be necessary if the balance is to be tipped in the weeks ahead. So as
Assad scorches the Syrian earth, the question as to how long this will continue
now largely depends on attitudes in the West, and above all in Washington.

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